Chapter 760 Seeing is Believing
Chapter 760 Seeing is Believing
Prime Minister Xiao Yu walked quickly into the imperial study and bowed, "Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you!"
Xiao Xia took out a report and gave it to him, "Prime Minister, please take a look at this first!"
Xiao Yu took the report and read it through, then said with a smile, "Your Majesty, do you want to ask about Xiao Wensheng?"
Xiao Xia nodded. "The inner guards said he was a descendant of the Jiangdu Xiao family. Whose family is he from?"
"Your Majesty, you actually know this man."
"who is it?"
"He used to live across from you. He ran errands for the martial arts school and worked as a waiter in a restaurant. Have you forgotten?"
Xiao Xia was stunned, "He is Lao Liu?"
Xiao Yu nodded. "Xiao Wensheng is the name the patriarch gave him. When the patriarch went to Beijing to serve as prime minister, he brought him with him. The patriarch thought highly of him and first recommended him to be the head of Xingluo Warehouse. Later, he was transferred to Luokou Warehouse as the general manager. Until now, he is still the director of Luokou Warehouse. He was also in charge of Luokou Warehouse during the Wang Shichong era. No one knows Luokou Warehouse better than him."
"But he actually embezzled government grain. Even in Wang Shichong's time, this kind of behavior is despicable!"
Xiao Yu bowed and said, "Your Majesty's conclusion was obtained from the interrogation of the grain shop, but the actual situation may not be so. The owner of the family thinks highly of him and thinks he has a good character. Your Majesty, can you send the inner guards to Luokou Warehouse to investigate, and then deal with it!"
Xiao Xia nodded slightly. Although Lao Liu was not very tight-lipped, he was indeed a good person.
Xiao Xia immediately wrote a handwritten note, put it in the report, and handed it to the attendant, "Give it to General Shi of the Internal Guards, and have them leave as soon as possible!"
When Shi Xiaozhen received the written order for investigation, he did not dare to delay. That night he personally led 300 people to Luokou Warehouse.
Three days later, Shi Xiaozhen came back with a touching report.
"Your Majesty, I admit my mistake. I did not conduct an on-site investigation and believed rumors, which almost wrongly accused a good person."
Xiao Xia nodded and asked, "Tell me the truth!"
"Your Majesty, the 20,000 dan of grain is real, but it was not the grain in the warehouse. It was the grain wasted and discarded by the Wagang Army and the people on both sides of the Luo River. Secretary Xiao and his men collected them bit by bit, and a total of 20,000 dan were collected. Because the grain was damp, it could not be stored in the warehouse and had to be stored elsewhere. They also reported the matter to Wang Shichong, but Wang Shichong ignored it. Seeing that the grain was about to rot, they took the initiative to sell the grain to the grain merchants in Luoyang. The 2,000 dan of money was used to repair the granary destroyed by the Wagang Army. They did not take a penny for themselves. There are witnesses and physical evidence. Your Majesty, I am ashamed that I almost wronged a good official!"
Xiao Xia was very pleased that his old friend did not let him down.
"Go! Learn from this lesson. Next time you investigate, you must see with your own eyes!"
"I will obey your Majesty's teachings!"
Xiao Xia pondered for a moment, then ordered his followers, "Go find His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"
Xiao Xia planned to use this incident to educate his son.
Soon, Yang Chu arrived and knelt down to pay homage.
Xiao Xia asked him to stand up and said with a smile: "I have read the report you wrote, and it was handled quite well. While punishing the Liu family for grain, also beat Wang Qilang with ten sticks, treating them equally."
"Thank you for your approval, Father!"
Xiao Xia then said calmly, "But have you ever thought about where the Liu family grain shop got the two hundred dan of rotten grain, and whether it was sold to others?"
Yang Chu shook his head, "I haven't thought about this question." Xiao Xia took out two reports and handed them to him, "Take a look at these two reports, both were written by General Shi of the Internal Guard. One was written three days ago, and the other was written today. They are both about the rotten grain incident. You will understand a lot after reading them."
Yang Chu sat down and looked at it carefully. He was very familiar with this case and he understood it quickly. His face turned red and white, and his eyes were filled with anger and astonishment.
"Father, this is so unexpected. I thought Xiao Wensheng was a corrupt official, but I found out that he is actually a good and honest official."
"So what you hear is not as good as what you see. You must investigate everything on the spot to avoid being misled by rumors!"
"Father is right, I will remember it!"
Xiao Xia sighed and said, "This Xiao Wensheng is actually my father's friend when he was young. We used to have a good relationship, but we didn't have much contact later. Do you think he can be promoted? What did your master teach you when you met a good official?"
Yang Chu thought for a moment and said, "Master said that everything should be done according to the system. If problems are found in the system, then the system should be modified. No special treatment should be given. I suggest that the Ministry of Personnel conduct a key annual assessment of Xiao Wensheng, and then promote him after his term expires based on the assessment results."
Xiao Xia felt ashamed that he was sometimes not as good as his son. He said with relief: "You are right. The system is crucial. We set the system ourselves, and we must abide by it first. Only when we abide by it ourselves will others abide by it. It seems that I did not choose the wrong master for you."
The rotten grain incident came to an end, and time soon came to April. Xiao Xia continued to send reinforcements to Guannei Road. By mid-April, the military strength in Guannei Road had increased to 80,000.
The Sui army not only occupied Yan'an County and Diaoyin County, but also continued to expand and occupied Honghua County, Beidi County and Shang County.
That morning, a cavalry of 5,000 men arrived from Yanchuan County, north of Yan'an Road, led by Su Dingfang.
There is a large salt lake in Yanchuan County. Although the boiled salt is very bitter, the bitterness can be removed as long as the refining method is mastered, just like the folk method of the people in Yan'an County, which is to soak the salt in boxwood and then use the boxwood to cook soup, and the soup will be salty but not bitter.
The Sui Dynasty's craftsman supervisor also mastered a method to remove the bitterness. He added alum to the bitter salt water, boiled it, cooled it to crystallize, and then filtered it. The filtered brine could be used directly to boil salt, and the bitterness would be gone.
However, with geological changes, by the Northern Song Dynasty, the bitterness of the salt lake had disappeared, and Western Xia began to boil salt in large quantities to supply the Liao Dynasty's Xijing Datong Prefecture.
Although the Turks cannot think of a way to remove the bitterness for the time being, they will come up with a solution over time, so occupying the salt lake is the safest option.
At this moment, a rocket suddenly shot up from a distance and exploded in the sky with a "bang!"
Su Dingfang shouted: "There is an enemy ahead, the whole army is ready to fight!"
Soon, a black line appeared beside the salt lake ahead, and the scout ran back and shouted, "It's the Turkic cavalry, about 3,000 of them!"
Su Dingfang was stunned. As expected, his commander was right. The Turks might station troops near the salt lake.
"The Arrow and Thunder Army line up!"
Arrow mines had already appeared and began to be equipped on a small scale to the army. The army attacking Western Xia was naturally the first batch to be equipped. There were 1,500 arrow mines, equipped with 500 cavalrymen, with three arrow mines for each cavalryman.
Five hundred cavalrymen quickly lined up, took out the arrow torpedoes and placed them on the crossbow slots.
The cavalry was getting closer and closer, and they were indeed regular Turkic cavalry wearing leather armor.
The Turks had two kinds of armies. One was a professional army, which followed the Khan and served as full-time soldiers, numbering about 50,000. The other was a pastoral army, which had a larger number of people, depending on how many herdsmen went to the battle, ranging from more than 100,000 to several hundred thousand.
The 3,000 cavalrymen that Su Dingfang encountered were professional troops. This kind of regular army had strong combat effectiveness and could compete with the Sui cavalry.
(End of this chapter)